Fifteen days later...

Vicente and his group had traveled a long way since leaving Saltstar City, leaving the province and passing through a part of Snow Province.

They were still in that other area of the kingdom, where they had even passed through the region's capital city, where Vicente's group had built a station. But they didn't stop there. Since no one had bought tickets for that city, and the group wanted to go directly to the capital, they just passed through without stopping.

This was enough to move the local people, who watched Vicente's train pass by with the expectation that they would be able to travel within their own province or even to other areas of the kingdom in the future.

After completely dominating Scott Province and not having much else to build in terms of railroads within that territory, Vicente and his group had left plans for the group to build railroads in Diamond Province and Snow Province.

There were already men working to connect the kingdom's capital to other cities in Diamond Province. At the same time, the same would soon happen in the territory the group was passing through.

Vicente had made more than 20 trains ready to be used while he was in Saltstar City, so even with the expansion of the rail network, his group would have ways to increase the flow of vehicles in his absence.

All that was needed was for his men to build the stations and tracks between the new destinations.

Aside from passing through the largest city in Snow Province, the group had no problems on their journey here. Vicente's trains were very safe, and hardly any monsters or beasts came close to them.

Even if a stronger beast approached them out of curiosity, it would quickly change course due to the group of several Sovereigns traveling in this vehicle.

Meanwhile, the group used the travel to prepare for a new journey.

Nina and those who would remain in the capital would soon have many new things to do in Vicente's absence, while he and his staff would begin their journey out of the kingdom in the coming weeks.

...

On the twentieth day of the group's journey, they finally entered Diamond Province.

After Vicente finished cultivating in his cabin where he had been sleeping with Nova, he felt his mana at a very high level, near the peak of the 4th stage.

'It looks like I'm going to advance one level when I take in my next pentagrams. Even if my fourth pentagram doesn't give me what I need to advance, the second pentagram of my other magic form will be enough for me to become a Paragon.' He thought to himself before looking in the direction where Nova, Nina and Eve were sitting, waiting for him for lunch today.

Before sitting down, he looked at Nina, who was practically an adult. In four days, she would be 14 and of age.

Seeing Nina like this, he couldn't help but think of Lauren and wonder how her older sister was doing.

'You're still alive, Lauren?' he thought as he kissed Nina on the forehead. 'I hope you made it this far. I'll come to you soon, sister. It will be time to reunite our family.'

Vicente sat down next to Nova, and soon, they were talking about small things, like what would happen after they got to Grandis.

Of course, their comments were positive. As smart as it was to prepare for the worst, they wanted the future to be as good as possible.

They talked about how Nina would soon awaken her magical powers and study at a renowned institution, where she could become a magical professional and a magician quickly.

Students at the Seidel Magical College usually finished their studies at the age of 18 and usually left the institution to start their own families or join the army when they were already Mages.

If all went well for Nina, by the time Vicente returned from his hunt, she should be more than halfway through her college studies, with a profession and at least 2nd-stage cultivation.

Nova and Eve also talked about the things they should do in Vicente's absence, such as helping the family and preparing for problems with monsters.

If The Purification happened, they could expect a two-phase disaster.

The first phase of the disaster had already begun and was expected to intensify in about a year at the most. At that time, hordes of monsters would be seen more and more frequently in the Seidel Kingdom.

The second phase of the calamity would occur in 2 or 3 years when The Purification would have already borne fruit. The great forces in the north of the continent would have already suffered greatly. The vampires themselves would have suffered their losses.

In the second phase, there were two possible scenarios: one in which the vampires would emerge as more of a winner, or at least as the stronger hand in the conflict, and one in which the vampires would be disappointed.

If the vampires proved to be dominant, then stronger vampires and creatures would arrive in the south in about 3 years. If the vampires lost a lot at the beginning of the disaster, then powerful monsters of other races would appear in those areas.

Either way, with or without a vampire victory, the consequences for the south would worsen in the second phase of the disaster.

After that period, the local forces would more or less figure out how things would play out. They would have a way of trying to predict how long the calamity would last and what the worst-case and best-case scenarios would be.

For now, they could only speculate without much foundation.

Anyway, they wouldn't just talk about it because this was a farewell trip. When they arrived in Grandis, Vicente and his group would stay there for a few weeks at most and then leave. So the group would talk much more about positive things and about meeting again in a few years.

So the trip unfolded, with time passing quickly.

In the blink of an eye, the remaining five days until the end of the trip would pass, and soon, the group would see the kingdom's capital, with Nina arriving there for the first time in her life.

Having reached the age to awaken her magical powers on this train, they would seek out the local Awakening Temple once they entered Grandis so that she could proceed with this moment so long awaited by her family.

After years of Vicente's preparation, with many treatments and resources put into her for this moment, it was finally time for the truth!